Guanajuato, Guanajuato, Mexico

The city of Guanajuato is the capital of the state with the same name in Central Mexico. Mexico is divided into 31 states with capital cities much like the United States. Mexico D. F. (Districto Federal) is the capital of the country much like Washington D.C. (District of Colombia) is the capital city of the United States.

Guanajuato is known for it's colonial charm, historical significance and cultural richness of dance, music, and theatre. According to the Guanajuato website, residents started performing Cervantes plays in 1953. The International Cervantes Festival is now a major International event in Guanajuato each year in October.

Diego, the BilingoKiz character for Mexico, is from Guanajuato. He is a 14 year who plays soccer and belongs to a group of folk dancers. Below Diego is pictured in front of the Teatro Juarez.

Mexican Folk Dance displays colorful costumes unique for each region.  The dances have historical or cultural significance and they honor the cultural diversity of Mexico. Be sure to attend a traveling tour if they appear in your area. 

To Learn a second language or not to learn

Several years ago I took a Chinese class.  Besides wanting to learn some Chinese, as a foreign language teacher, I felt it important to be able to again understand what it was like in a class and not understand a word!  I did well in the class but I longed to learn more and have more of an immersion type experience.  I needed more repetitions than the class was able to give me.  I longed for a program like BiLingo Kidz in Chinese where a learner can listen and study independently.  For me, as a teacher and as a learner, repetition is the key to learning not only correct pronunciation but correct sentence structure in context.  

Several years later I attended a TPRS (Teaching for Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling) conference  where I had the opportunity to again learn some Chinese using TPRS techniques.  I learned so much in about 20 hours because of the constant repetition and it was so much fun!  Of course having an instructor is more fun than working off a software program but either way one can learn. 

Parents often find themselves without a class for their younger children.  Most schools in the United States wait until high school to teach a second language. This practice directly affects correct pronunciation.  Many parents start before or after school programs but they are difficult to maintain with schedules, car pools, and finding teachers. 
 
I am currently lucky to have a Chinese student living with me.  Of course I had to practice my minuscule amount of Chinese with her.  Most of the time she didn't have a clue as to what I was saying as I had picked up some bad pronunciation habits.  Not my teacher's fault, just a lack of repetition and reading. At any rate, I practice and get corrected and practice and get corrected again and again.  At this rate I don't know that I will ever be fluent but hopefully not completely illiterate when I visit China. 

Salvadoran Art and Culture

The mini-stories in BiLingo Kidz are embedded with culture.  The first stories are of María Esther, a 10 year old Salvadoran. 

Post colonial cities in Latin America have a church in the center of the city with a park in front.  The first painting in BiLingo Kidz is of Esther playing at the plaza central, the park in front of the the central cathedral in San Salvador, the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Holy Savior (Catedral Metropolitana de San Salvador).

The facade of the cathedral has tiles painted by Fernando Llort and team.  The tiles depict the life of the Salvadoran people.  The following is a quote from Fernando Llort taken from his website:  "The Catholic Church from El Salvador asked me to design the facade for the Cathedral.  This has been one of the most inspiring artistic moments of my life, cause it meant to meant I was putting my art on a very important symbol of my country, with a huge historical value.  It was a work that took us (me and a group of artisans) around 1 year to finish." 

Fernando Llort is a theologian, artist and teacher.  He moved from the city of San Salvador to a small town in northern El Salvador, La Palma.  It was here that Fernando began his artistic endeavors in earnest and taught the people of La Palma to adapt his style of art and make a living from their art as in the cross below. 

As mentioned above, Llort shared his passion with the people of La Palma.  I would suggest to teachers that you show example of Llort's artwork passed on to the Salvaoran people through painted crosses they created.  The crosses depict their lives and spirituality.  Students could draw and color their own symbols in the shape of a cross to experience the art form more fully. 

Serving in the Peace Corps

I had the good fortune of serving in the Peace Corps in El Salvador.  That's where I was first introduced to Spanish.  I quickly learned conversational Spanish as I would have had NO ONE to speak with in English in my village of Victoria, Cabañas, El Salvador.  It was a great time of my life as I was young , energetic and ready to make a difference.  Little did I know!!!  I quickly learned that I knew NOTHING in my new environment.  You see, I was part of a group that work in Agriculture Extension.  We all had some background in 4-H or FFA or lived in a rural area, etc.  We were suppose to know something about homemaking and agriculture.  I had worked at Kentucky Fried Chicken so when the women asked me to show them how to make "American chicken" I remember thinking that I could do that.  The end result disastrous!!!  I had never cleaned and dressed a chicken.  In the states, they are delivered all ready to go.  I was not skilled at controlling the temperature of an open pit fire, nor did I know anything about frying in a clay round pot!!!  Finally I admitted that the women should take over and add tomatoes and whatever else to salvage the chicken, a prized commodity. 

My initiation into the Salvadoran culture helped me  to listen and learn from others.  The Salvadoran people changed my life and they continue to teach me about life.  I am grateful for my Salvadoran community.   

I was successful at teaching the children to do some sewing and public speaking through demonstrations.  But even sewing was a challenge.  I was an accomplished seamstress having made my clothes throughout high school BUT I sewed on an electric sewing machine and I used a pattern to cut out the fabric.  In El Salvador the seamstresses sew without a pattern and they can make any dress you ask them to make from a picture!!  I was able to buy patterns in the capital and borrow a treadle machine to make my own clothing but I was only able to help the children make a skirt by hand. 

So you might ask, did she do anything constructive in the Peace Corps?  I do consider myself a successful Peace Corps Volunteer.  According the  Peace Corps website are:  1)  Helping the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women, 2)Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served, and 3)Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans. 

I can proudly say that I accomplished all of the mission to some degree.  As a result of my understanding that culture and customs are different from country to country and sometimes from region to region, I see that teaching culture along with teaching language is an important component to world understanding.  I created BiLingo Kidz, a Spanish software program for ages 7-14, that has culture embedded into the mini stories of children from Latin America.  This software program is unique.  According to HISPANIA, a Journal of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, Sept. 2008, "all narrators are native speakers from the featured countries.  BiLingo Kidz is a fun way to learn not only Spanish, but also Latin American culture in general.  The stories, photos and films, self-pacing features, and recycling exercises make this language learning software a pleasure and will please, instruct, and challenge kids of all ages."

 

Spanish and Golf: What they have in common

At first glance Spanish and golf don't seem to have anything in common but indeed they do, they are both skill based.  That means that only through constant repetition does one acquire the language or the sport.  All languages and sports are skill based but I believe that golf is the best analogy to learning a second language. 

Golf like language learning is an individual endeavor yet it is very social.  Initially there seems to be too much to remember; what club to use, how to hold the golf club, the stance, swing, head position, etc.  In language acquisition the new Spanish vocabulary seems overwhelming, the sentence structure is different than English, and just having the nerve to try to speak is unique to language. 

Many of us just learned to speak English without learning or remembering the parts of speech.  Most of us can remember nouns and verbs but who remembers the difference between an adjective and an adverb, or a direct or indirect object? The good new is;  It does not matter much if we know the parts of speech to begin to learn Spanish.  The fluency and pronunciation is key to beginning. 

Once the initial feelings of being overwhelmed pass, one starts to have fun learning.  While playing golf, some drives actually go down the center of the fairway and similarly one begins saying some simple learned phrases in Spanish.  The more one plays golf and repeats the movements, the more consistent one becomes.  Additionally the game becomes more and more fun.  One seeks out friends and tee times to play.  Equally, when one begins practicing their newly acquired Spanish they become more and more excited about learning more.  Once a student begins using their newly acquired Spanish, the more they want to practice and learn.  Speaking  Spanish is very social like playing golf and it is up to an individual to increase their skill level.  One will seek opportunities to listen to, speak, and read Spanish.

BiLingo Kidz teaches Spanish in complete sentences using 5 different native speakers to tone our listening skills.  And since most of us are visual learners, a student can read along in Spanish while listening.  A license agreement for a CD-ROM is for the whole family.  Each family member can track their individual progress.  BiLingo Kidz is a perfect gap program between songs and simple vocabulary and adult programs that are grammar and workbook based.  Check us out.  You will be glad you did!!